Metal-coated fibrous material.



NITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

JAMEs HART ROBERTSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BYJDIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, SAME PLACE.

TO THE METAL FABRIC COMPANY, OF

M ETAL-COATE D FIBRQUS MATERIAL;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 653,88' 7, dated July 17, 1900.

Application filed May 1,1899. eria1 No.715,233- (SpecimensJ To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JAMES HART ROBERT- son, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borouglref Brooklyn, city'and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metal-0oated Fibrous Material, of which the following is a full and true descriptioh.

The object of my present invention is to coat fibrous material with m'etals,thereby giving to such fibrous material the general surface appearance in metal of the material which is so coated and to obtain a material or product seeoated:

It is desirable that the coated product shall resemble as nearly as possible the original fibrous body, having the interstices or openings as clear as possible from metal, and this .result I attain with-special success by the process hereinafter described.

My new product consists of, preferably, a knitted, woven, or knotted fabric of any configuration or ornamentationsubjected to carbonization to form a base and then coated with a metallic coating, so that the finished metallized product shall be of the same coufiguration and ornamentation as the base.

In making my new product I take afibrous body or a woven, knitted, or knotted fabric and thoroughly carbonize, it by any known means, taking care to preserve whatever may be the original configuratioh, and I thenplace the carbonized materialin the plating-bath of an electrodepositing apparatus and electrically deposit a film or coating of metal thereon in the ordinary ways. This carbonized material will readily take the metallic coating, and this coating will correspond ex-- actly in surface configuration or ornamentation to the original fabric which forms the base and will inclose and envelop the carbonized base on all sides. A method of carbonizing which I have successfully employed is as follows: I first treat the fabric bydipping in a ten-per-cent. solution of sulfuric acid. After drying I put the fabric in a crucible and pack the joints of the crucible to exclude" oxygen.

The crucibleiis then heated gradually to a white heat, then cooled slowly, and

5c the carbonized fabric is carefully removed.

deposited film or coating of metal, and this metallic coating,in view of the fact that the carbonized body is itself a conductor of electricity, may be directly deposited upon the carbonized fibrous material without the use of any intervening substance or without the necessity of further preparing said base. The carbonized base is immersed-t n the platingbath, care being taken not to break up its structure, (which may have been consider tirely free of any conductive or protecting material the metal enters into'said' interstices and openings and is deposited evenly all around the carbonized threads, resulting in nexact surface reproduction in metal of the original fibrous material.

This invention is very useful for the pro-v duction of metallized lace or kindred fabrics. Heretofore there has been much difiiculty in the reproduction in metal of lace, as either, expensive dies had to be used to stamp imitations out of metal or, when the metal ed'the solutions or materials used in preparlizing of the fabrics themselves was attempb' ing the fibers to resist the acidsbf the plat fabric to retain ing-bath and to enable the the metallic deposit have filled or clogged the interstices or openings, sometimes resulting when the plating is finished in a. practically fiat instead of an open-work surface.

I am aware that a carbon filament for an incandescent lamp has been electroplated for a portion of its length, as shown by Edisons patent, No. 264,653, and do not claim such. as I regard my invention as essentially differenttherefrom The novel article described and claimed in this application consists of a carbonized fibrous material having a pattern or configuration and an electrodeposited continuous metallic coating directly applied thereto and covering and conforming to the I pattern or configuration of thecarbonizedmaterial. The words pattern or configuration thus used are not defined by the smooth carbon filament bent into horseshoe shape,

asshown in the before-mentioned Edisonpatent, but by a pattern or configuration on or in the carbonized fibrous material, which pattern or configuration is made to appear in and adorn the finished article,

My process results in a great cheapening of the manufacture, and the result is far more accurate and satisfactory than is possible even by the most expert workmanship When stamping orcasting processes are employed. When the metallic surface is to be of gold or other precious metal, a basic coating of thereto and covering and conforming to thefi' said pattern or configuration of the carbonized material, substantially as described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a carbonized textile fabricfhaving interstices or openin gs,and havingali electrically-deposited continuous metallic coatingdirectly applied to the carbonized threads, reproducing the interstices or openings of the carbonized fibers in the coating, substantially as described. 3. As a new article of manufacture, a carbonized knitted, knotted or woven fabric, having an electrically-deposited continuous metallic coating directly applied thereto, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 29th day of April, 1899.

JAMES HART ROBERTSON In presence of-- JAMES J. Cosenovn', W. H. BERRIGAN, Jr. 

